ianungstad wrote:Lionsgate is giving this a dvd only release on June 24th. (as per today's press release). Barebones except for a short EPK featurette.

So either:
1) A24 signed a home video output deal with the worst major studio around.
2) They'll let Criterion or Lionsgate release a loaded blu at some future date.

Sadly; it's very likely option #1.

Yes, but undoubtedly the film will get a blu release in Europe. This is happening more and more: releases with a limited audience in the U.S. get a dvd-only release, while meanwhile there are Blu-ray discs of those titles on offer from the UK, France, and/or Germany. These tend to be high-quality releases, so I don't mind, and lately, I'm making a lot of orders overseas anyway.

domino harvey wrote:That's gotta be an oversight, how can this not be getting a Blu-ray. Although, A24 did the same foul turn with Ginger and Rosa (also thankfully out in RB)

It's not just A24. Tavernier's La princesse de Montpensier came out DVD-only in the US; Assayas's Something in the Air was a DVD-only release as well; same for Fill the Void. In all three cases I had to apply to European suppliers to get Blu-ray versions. There are many other examples. It's a trend.

Enemy is now up for pre-order on Amazon. Again; no blu. Just the barebones dvd is listed on Amazon. While there has been a trend of foreign language films that either went straight to VOD or played day and date in a handful of theaters getting dvd only releases; this is a well received film with a major Hollywood actor that's about to cross the million dollar mark at the box office this weekend. Very strange. A24 should be making some angry phone calls to Lionsgate; if there's no other release in the pipeline.

"Fill The Void," a little well-reviewed indie released last year by Sony Picture Classics (and my #1 favorite movie of 2013), was also released only on DVD. It looks like DVD-only release will be the new guetto for 'artsy' films with low box office mojo.

It is stupid, but complaining about it here definitely won't change anything. Why not write to A24 at info@a24films.com. Be sure to tell them how much you like their films, how you prefer to own copies of them on physical media, like the version of, I don't know, Spring Breakers you have on Blu-ray (whether you really do or not), and how it would be a shame if you were forced to continue importing Blu-rays of films like Enemy and Under the Skin from other territories like Canada and the U.K. because they were only offering inferior product in the U.S.

A24 has to have something cooked up with Criterion. How on earth does this and Enemy get barebone dvd only releases?

Oh come on, man! It's likely not playing at any theater where I am but come on, no Blu-Ray? Considering I have a region locked Blu-Ray player so importing's out of the question, I might as well take what I can get in my case.

But the best way to ensure a Blu-Ray release with bonus features is just bombard Lionsgate with emails demanding it.

Megan Ellison's so enthusiastic about getting interesting films made from celebrated artistic directors that I'm just baffled by this. Might not be a bad idea to send a Tweet her way too, on top of e-mailing A24.

A couple of clarifications: A24 is not the same entity as Annapurna Pictures, which is Megan Ellison's company, though they have partnered on films like Spring Breakers. And Lionsgate is about as likely to read, listen to and act on Movie-Brat's protest email as they are to release all of the Studio Canal titles they currently have the rights to.

warren oates wrote:Annapurna Pictures, which is Megan Ellison's company

My Indian mythology is sketchy to say the least, so I never knew the significance of the company's name until I looked at its wikipedia page. Does Ellison really consider herself "a feeding mother goddess" "who epitomizes benevolent abundance of nourishment"? Yikes.

Claire Denis' Les salauds / Bastards is shamefully DVD-only in both the U.S. and France; fortunately AE in the UK have come to the rescue.

Even more confusingly, L'inconnu du lac / Stranger by the Lake is DVD-only in France and getting a blu release in both the US and the UK.

Numerous small American indie films of the last year have had DVD-only releases with download-only 1080p/720p versions for sale (The Comedy), or just straight-up digital-only (Bad Fever, Sun Don't Shine).

It's really a worrying trend, and an especially horrible proposition in re: piracy.

I see this as generational. DVD only releases are serving a market that's not unlike the one responsible for Criterion's grudging return to DVD production for libraries and institutions that, beyond a few machines at the bigger richer places, likely never upgraded to full 1080p HD with most of their players or monitors. Everyone else who's willing to pay is hip enough to pay for downloads and, though many of us would prefer Blu-ray, we'd also rather have a 1080p download than a standard def DVD. As soon as they can, and, especially if they ever rethink the stupidity of UltraViolet, the major studios will be download only. So it's no surprise that the Indies see that it's in their best interest to forgo the expense of producing physical media (as well as the tax hit of either warehousing extra copies unsold or remaindering them at a loss).

The real coming pain in all this, though, will be when those cool foreign labels, especially the ones in the U.K., France and Germany ditch physical media. They can't stop us from importing discs to other countries/territories now, but if they're selling region-locked files within specific and exclusive geographic boundaries, it will be easy to make it impossible for us to legally purchase their wares. And that will encourage a piracy that almost exclusively hurts small time art filmmakers.

warren oates wrote:The real coming pain in all this, though, will be when those cool foreign labels, especially the ones in the U.K., France and Germany ditch physical media. They can't stop us from importing discs to other countries/territories now, but if they're selling region-locked files within specific and exclusive geographic boundaries, it will be easy to make it impossible for us to legally purchase their wares. And that will encourage a piracy that almost exclusively hurts small time art filmmakers.

...which of course is happening right now, as I'm locked out of most US VOD offerings. I can access the US version of streaming services like Netflix via IP anonymisers (handily, if surprisingly, my UK subscription seems to work just as well with the US site), but something like Criterion's Hulu catalogue (with its tantalising titles that aren't available on physical media) is off limits as far as I can see.